Taegeuk (taekwondo)

In taekwondo, taegeuk is a set of Pumsae (also known as Poomsae or Poomse), or defined pattern of defense-and-attack forms used to teach taekwondo.[1]

Between 1967 and 1971 Kukkiwon-style taekwondo made use of an older set of forms called the palgwae forms developed by the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) with input from some of the original nine kwans of taekwondo. By 1970 additional kwans had joined the KTA so the newer set of taegeuk forms was developed to better represent inputs from all the participating kwans. By 1971 the palgwae forms were considered to be deprecated in favor of the newer taegeuk forms, though some schools still teach palgwae forms as well.[2] All World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) Pumsae competitions use the taegeuk pumsae, along with 8 of the black belt Pumsae.

Each Taegeuk form symbolizes a specific state thought to be indicative of the belt the student currently holds, and is represented in WTF Taekwondo by trigrams (originally derived from the I-Ching) similar to those found in the four corners of the South Korean flag.